Chapter 5   The Stranger in the Dark  

“There is something outside.”

 

“I noticed.”

 

“You don’t understand. It is waiting for you to open the door.”

 

His expression hardened.

 

“You have three seconds to explain.”

 

Vespera looked at the thin gap beneath the door.

 

A dark liquid was spreading through it.

 

Blood.

 

“Something is wrong with that infected man,” she whispered. “He didn’t attack us because he was hungry. He was trying to get to this room.”

 

Lucien stared at her.

 

“And how could you possibly know that?”

 

Before she could answer, a voice came through the door.

 

“Mr. Dravik?” It was a man’s voice.

 

It was weak and familiar a bit

 

“Please open the door. I’m hurt.” Lucien’s expression changed slightly.

 

Vespera noticed.

 

“You know him?”

 

“Stay back.”

 

“Lucien, listen to me.” He turned his head slowly.

 

It was the first time she had called him by his first name.

 

His eyes became colder.

 

“You are getting comfortable.”

 

“I am trying to keep you alive.”

 

“And you believe I need your help?” A sudden bang shook the door.

 

The handle turned. Someone outside began to laugh.

 

The sound was wrong. It started as a human chuckle, then broke into wet, choking noises.

 

Vespera stepped away from the door. The voice returned.

 

“Please, sir. Let me in.” Then it spoke again, using a different voice.

 

“Help me.” Vespera’s stomach twisted.

 

The second voice was a woman's.

 

She had heard it somewhere before, but she could not remember where.

 

Lucien moved away from the door and pointed his gun at it.

 

“Kaelen!” he called. A loud voice answered from the corridor.

 

“Sir, we have a problem. Several men are down. The elevators are blocked, and there are infected people on this floor.”

 

“Get the survivors into the emergency stairwell. Seal every entrance.”

 

“We are trying, but some of them are moving too fast.”

 

Lucien looked at Vespera.

 

“Too fast?” She nodded.

 

The first infected moved quickly, but it was still clumsy. If the others were moving faster, the infection was spreading in a way she had not expected.

 

The system’s warning flashed across her mind.

 

The timeline has changed. She needed to know what had changed and why.

 

A sharp electronic sound rang inside her head.

 

[Emergency Mission Update] [Objective: Survive the next 30 minutes.]

 

[Additional Threat Detected.] [Threat Level: Unknown.]

 

[Warning: The host’s current location is no longer safe.]

 

Vespera’s breath caught. Unknown threat?

 

She had never seen that message before.

 

Before she could read the rest, another line appeared.

 

[Hidden condition activated.] [Your Foresight ability is awakening.]

 

Pain exploded behind her eyes. Vespera grabbed the edge of the desk.

 

The room disappeared.

 

For one second, she saw Lucien standing in the middle of the office. His shirt was covered in blood. A dark figure stood behind him, holding a long blade.

 

Then Lucien fell. A second image flashed before her eyes.

 

The office windows shattered. Infected people poured through the opening. A man with a torn face dragged Lucien across the floor while Vespera watched from the corner, unable to move.

 

Then came a final image. Her own hands were covered in blood.

 

Something was crawling beneath the skin of her left wrist.

 

A voice whispered in her ear.

 

“You should never have come back.”

 

Vespera gasped. The vision vanished. She stumbled backward and struck the desk.

 

Lucien caught her arm before she fell.

 

“What happened?” She stared at him.

 

She could not hide her fear. He noticed immediately.

 

“What did you see?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Try again.” “I said nothing.” Lucien tightened his grip.

 

“You are a terrible liar.”

 

“And you ask too many questions.”

 

His eyes narrowed, but before he could respond, a loud crash came from the window.

 

Both of them turned. The glass had not broken.

 

Something had struck it from the outside. The office was on the twenty-seventh floor.

 

Vespera slowly looked toward the window.

 

A dark shape clung to the glass. At first, she thought it was a person.

 

Then it lifted its head.

 

Its face was pressed against the window, and its mouth opened far wider than a human mouth should.

 

Its fingers curled around the edge of the building.

 

There was no balcony outside.

 

Nothing to stand on.

 

The creature was holding itself against the glass with its bare hands.

 

Vespera could not breathe. The creature turned its head toward her.

 

Then it smiled. Lucien raised his gun and fired through the glass.

 

The window cracked, but the creature moved before the bullet struck it. It dropped out of sight.

 

Lucien stepped back.

 

“Get away from the windows.” Vespera did not need to be told twice.

 

She hurried toward the inner wall, her mind racing.

 

That thing had climbed twenty-seven floors.

 

No ordinary infected could do that. Not this early.

 

The system flashed again.

 

[Mutation Confirmed.]

 

[Warning: Unregistered infected entity detected.]

 

[Host survival probability has decreased.]

 

[New mission available.]

 

[Escape Dravik Security Headquarters.]

 

[Reward: Foresight Activation.]

 

[Failure Penalty: Death.] Vespera stared at the message.

 

The system was offering her an ability she already seemed to have glimpsed, but only if she escaped the building.

 

She looked at Lucien.

 

He spoke into his phone, ordering his men to secure the stairwells and find another way out. His voice remained calm, but she could see the tension in his shoulders.

 

He was used to controlling every situation.

 

Today, the world was refusing to obey him.

 

“Vespera.”

 

She looked up. Lucien had ended the call.

 

“You are coming with me.”

 

She blinked.

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“Where?”

 

“Somewhere that does not have infected creatures climbing the walls.”

 

“That sounds like a good plan.”

 

“Do not mistake this for trust. You will explain everything once we are somewhere secure.”

 

Vespera almost laughed.

 

He was still threatening her even after a creature had climbed to the twenty-seventh floor.

 

“Fine,” she said. “But we need to move now.”

 

Lucien studied her for a moment.

 

Then he opened a drawer and removed a second gun.

 

He checked the magazine and handed it to her.

 

Vespera stared at the weapon.

 

“You are giving me a gun?”

 

“I am giving you a chance to prove you are not a threat.”

 

“And if I am?”

 

“I will take it back after I shoot you.”

 

She accepted the gun.

 

Her hands were shaking, but she kept her finger away from the trigger.

 

She had never used a real gun in her previous life. She had learned to defend herself with whatever she could find, but she had never expected to stand in a billionaire’s office holding a weapon while the dead attacked the building.

 

Lucien moved to a cabinet and removed a small medical bag.

 

He threw it toward her.

 

“Carry that.” Vespera caught it.

 

“You keep medical supplies in your office?”

 

“I keep supplies for emergencies.”

 

“This is a very serious emergency.”

 

“No thanks to you.” She gave him an angry look.

 

“You were the one who asked me to explain why you should save me. I saved myself, and now you are blaming me for the apocalypse.”

 

Lucien looked at her for a long moment.

 

Then, to her surprise, one corner of his mouth moved.

 

It was not a smile. It was something close enough to make her uncomfortable.

 

“Keep talking,” he said. “It may be the last thing you do.”

 

A violent crash came from the corridor.

 

The office door shook. Something struck it again.

 

The metal frame bent inward. Lucien raised his gun.

 

Vespera stepped beside him—another crash.

 

The lock broke. The door flew open. A man stood in the doorway.

 

His uniform was torn, and blood covered his face. His eyes moved between Lucien and Vespera. For a moment, he looked almost normal.

 

Then he smiled.

 

“Sir,” he whispered. Lucien recognized him.

 

“Darren?” The man stepped into the room.

 

His head tilted to the side. “Sir, we found her.”